A cake meticulously tested and frosted with care for the woman who encouraged my creative endeavors from day one. From the moment I could hold a paintbrush to the instant I started my blog back in 2008, she told me that I was talented and more importantly, that if I tried my best, that was enough. Without her support, I might never have grown confident enough to share my recipes and photos with the world.

This cake is a token of my appreciation for the woman who lifted me up with her boundless love, generosity, and unshakeable belief in my abilities. In college, I went through a trying period of personal growth and transformation. Without Mom to talk me through it, it would have been far more difficult to see the light rays peeking through the storm cloud.

Here’s my updated version of the old Sugar-Free Healthy Indulgences Carrot Cake (check out the photos! Pretty big difference between now and 4 years ago, huh? :D), with a couple of tweaks to make it even more delicious. It’s still gluten-free, sugar-free, and diabetic-friendly, at just 8 carbs per piece! It can also be made nut-free and dairy-free with a couple of modifications (see below!).

The measurements listed work well with the wonderful non bitter pure stevia powder found at TJ’s. Have you hopped on the Trader Joe’s stevia train yet? I’m hooked! Hoping to see a larger bottle for sale in the future, ’cause $9.99 per oz is a bit steep for prolific bakers like yours truly. If you, too, are burning through stevia and would like to write to TJ’s about selling their pure, lactose-free in bulk, you can email them here. Once you’ve sounded off, don’t forget to come back for this fabulous cake recipe! 😀

On the advent of Easter, it’s the perfect time for a new beginning. I’ve been baking on and off since January, sharing my Chocolate Cake with a Secret with friends at the local hospital and doctor’s offices. In the midst of pursuing a career in the health professions, I’ve encountered many diabetic patients who are looking to manage their blood sugar while still enjoying tasty treats. These personal encounters, in additional to emails from readers, have been the best inspiration for me to get back to making sugar-free treats!

Wanna know what I’ve learned from making the the beloved black bean chocolate cake hundreds of times over the course of five years? Here are some tips and tricks to make it even more scrumptious!

UPDATE: The giveaway winner has been contacted. Thanks for participating, all!This healthy yet decadent spin on the beloved One Minute Muffin is sure to hit the spot when you’re crunched for time and craving the sweet stuff.

Picture this: It’s lunch time, and you’re utterly fatigued after a grueling Monday morning full of meetings with clients/problem sets and paper writing/chasing after the little ones/[choose your own adventure] and your stomach is grumbling.

To satiate your sweet tooth on those mile-long-to-do-list days, it’s tempting to hit up the grocery store or corner bakery for a pre-made slice, full of trans fatty, sugary frosting and white flour. For gluten-free eaters and low carb dieters avoiding sugar, there are few options for a quick fix. What’s a stressed out cake-lovin’ healthy eater to do?

Why have I made carrot cake over ten times in the past three days? To come up with a Healthy Carrot Cake that’s low in carbohydrates and gluten-free for you! This fragrant and flavorful cake is also dairy-free and nut-free, if you omit the classic add in of chopped walnuts. I promise you won’t miss the raisins in this nourishing carrot cake that’s not just healthy “because it has vegetables in it!” 😉 The other bad stuff–those culprits named Sugar and Flour–are conspicuously left out of this recipe. All of that grating was totally worth it.

There is a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses–which is technically a sugar–in this recipe. It’s a thick, dark iron-rich syrup made from the sugarcane plant. This molasses is potent stuff, and contributes a rich flavor and coloring to the cake. You can leave molasses out to be completely sugar-free, but I think it’s worth the 4 grams of carbs.

You can bake the cake into a traditional rectangular loaf, or snack-sized mini muffins. Get creative and have fun with your sugar-free frosting! It pipes well, using a zip top bag with the corner snipped off.

A bit of food coloring can transform your homemade low carb treats into festive, eye-catching confections worthy of special occasions. Check the food coloring label for hidden sugar before you buy. I made the mistake of not checking the label of the Wilton gel coloring I used here, and saw it contained corn syrup, much to my dismay! That pesky Sugar manages to sneak in everywhere, doesn’t it? McCormick food colors, found in most grocery stores, are sugar-free. I’ve tried a couple of organic dyes, and unfortunately neither of them yielded satisfactory results. You need so little coloring for an entire batch of frosting that I’m not too worried about the health effects. If you have any recommendations for natural food dye, let us know in the comments, please.

The frosting is absolutely delicious any color you make it. It’s a new and improved Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting, with a special low carb ingredient that might be familiar to the Asian and Indian readers of this blog…

Just returned, completely rejuvenated, from a trip to a see friends and relatives up north. Minnesota and North Dakota are some of my favorite places on Earth. I feel revitalized from being immersed in this uplifting, highly social culture for two weeks. Let me explain: In Fargo, North Dakota and elsewear, the human connection, the sense of community, is strong in the smallish Midwestern towns. How refreshing!

Since posting my chocolate cake made with black beans last month, I’ve received quite a few requests for a vanilla version of this incredibly moist, easy recipe. You ask, I deliver! These gluten-free sugar-free low carb (grain-free!) yellow cupcakes are made with coconut flour in place of the cocoa powder, and white beans instead of black beans. Cocoa powder and coconut flour seem to work interchangeably! It’s a pretty cool discovery that I hope y’all can make use of in your own gluten-free low carb baking pursuits. And because someone will ask: These cupcakes do not taste like beans or coconut! Just butter and vanilla and moist yumminess. Using beans and coconut flour in place of almond flour is budget-friendly, so you can experiment with this recipe by adding cinnamon, nuts, sugar-free chocolate chunks, different extracts… have fun!

Going to keep this post short and sweet. It’s been a busy weekend! Summer term is already wrapping up, with only a couple weeks of class left.

This morning, I got a craving for pancakes! I’ve been searching for a healthy low carb version of those fluffy white stacks of carb-fog-inducing bliss ever since I saw my friends chowing down on flapjacks at my favorite breakfast diner, The Golden Griddle. It’s a mandatory stop on our annual trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the end of the school year. Every May, Dukies take over this quaint restaurant for a weekend, and get served by the likes of our super friendly waitress Kathleen, and other purveyors of Southern hospitality. We’ve had Kathleen as our server for two years running, so going to Golden Griddle now feels like a special welcome from the small beach town.

Since y’all enjoyed the chocolate cake (made with beans!) so much, I’m going to create more desserts that don’t rely heavily on almond flour a.k.a. powdered gold for low carb bakers! Does this sound like a good plan? Leave some feedback and let me know what you think.

These moist little cake bites contain all of the decadence of a classic Southern coconut cake, with none of the highly refined ingredients that make the original only an occasional treat. These flavorful coconut cakes are sugar-free, gluten-free, and low carb (dairy-free!), so you get the nutrients from coconut, almonds, and eggs without the grains and sugar to spike your blood sugar.

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